Genetically modified (GM) crops have had their genetic materials engineered through biotechnologies to introduce new or enhanced characteristics (traits), such as herbicide tolerance, insect resistance, enhancement of certain nutrients, and drought tolerance. The global plantation area of GM crops has been growing for more than two decades, since they were first commercialized in the early 1990s, and it reached 181.5 million hectares in 2014.1 (See Figure 1.) But the annual growth rate has slowed considerably, from over 125 percent in the late 1990s to 6.3 percent in the early 2010s.2

Imports of grain globally increased more than fivefold between 1960 and 2013 as more nations turned to international markets to help meet domestic food demand. For some countries, the imported share of domestic grain consumption has risen substantially. In 2013, more than a third of the world’s nations—77 in all—imported at least 25 percent of the major grains they needed. This compares to just 49 countries in 1961, an increase of 57 percent over half a century.

Cotton has been grown by human civilizations for thousands of years. Promoted as “the fabric of our lives” in a long-running U.S. advertising campaign, it remains by far the most important natural fiber for textiles, although it continues to lose ground to synthetic fibers. Cotton’s share of all fibers worldwide was 88 percent in the 1940s and 68 percent in 1960. But by 2010 it had declined to just 33 percent, while synthetic fibers grew to 60 percent, and wool, flax, and cellulosic fibers accounted for the remainder.

Although the proportion of people experiencing chronic hunger is decreasing globally, one in nine individuals still does not get enough to eat. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 805 million people were living with undernourishment (chronic hunger) in 2012–14, down more than 100 million over the last decade and 209 million lower than in 1990–92. The vast majority of undernourished people live in developing countries, where an estimated 791 million people—or one in eight—were chronically hungry in 2012–14.

Global meat production rose to an estimated 308.5 million tons in 2013, an increase of 1.4 percent over 2012. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) forecasts additional growth of 1.1 percent in 2014 to 311.8 million tons. Production is thus reaching new peaks, despite drought conditions in Australia and New Zealand and disease outbreaks in the United States and Eastern Europe. However, the annual rate of growth has slowed from 2.6 percent in 2010.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA-FAS), world coffee production during the 2013/14 crop year was just slightly over 9 million tons, down 3.2 percent from the record 9.3 million tons in 2012/13. The decline was largely due to developments in Brazil, where production has suffered from a mix of such adverse factors as frost damage in Paraná, prolonged drought, and high temperatures in Minas Gerais and São Paulo states.

According to preliminary estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), total global fish production was expected to reach an all-time high of 160 million tons in 2013, up from 157.9 million tons in 2012. This figure includes a projected wild capture of 90 million tons, down from 91.3 million tons in the previous year and from 93.7 million tons in 2011.

In 2012, the most recent year with data, agricultural subsidies totaled an estimated $486 billion in the top 21 food-producing countries in the world. These countries—the members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and seven other countries (Brazil, China, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Russia, South Africa, and Ukraine)—are responsible for almost 80 percent of global agricultural value added in the world. OECD countries alone spent $258.6 billion in subsidies to support farming in their respective countries in 2012.

The global agricultural population—defined as individuals dependent on agriculture, hunting, fishing, and forestry for their livelihood—accounted for 37.6 percent of the world’s total population in 2011, the most recent year for which data are available. This is a decrease of 12 percent from 1980, when the world’s agricultural and nonagricultural populations were roughly the same size. Although the agricultural population shrunk as a share of total population between 1980 and 2011, it grew numerically from 2.2 billion to 2.6 billion people during this period, principally in Africa and Asia.

Continuing a decade-long increase, global food prices rose 2.7 percent in 2012, reaching levels not seen since the 1960s and 1970s but still well below the price spike of 1974. Between 2000 and 2012, the World Bank global food price index increased 104.5 percent, at an average annual rate of 6.5 percent. (See Figure 1.)

In 2010, the most recent year for which data are available, organic farming accounted for approximately 0.9 percent of total agricultural land around the world. While this is still a minuscule share, since 1999 the land area farmed organically has expanded more than threefold: 37 million hectares of land are now organically farmed, including land that is in the process of being converted from conventional agricultural practices.

Global meat production rose to 297 million tons in 2011, an increase of 0.8 percent over 2010 production levels. By the end of 2012, meat production is projected to reach 302 million tons, an increase of 1.6 percent over 2011. These are relatively low rates of growth compared with previous years: in 2010, meat production rose by 2.6 percent, and since 2001 production has risen by 20 percent. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), record drought in the American Midwest, disease outbreaks, and rising prices of livestock feed in 2011 and 2012 all contributed to the lower rises in production. Natural disasters in Japan and Pakistan also constrained output and disrupted trade.

In 2012, global grain production is expected to reach a record high of 2.37 billion tons, an increase of 1 percent from 2011 levels. Grain crops are used for human consumption, animal feed, and biofuels. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the production of grain for animal feed is growing the fastest—a 2.1 percent increase from 2011. Grain for direct consumption by people grew 1.1 percent from 2011. Grain used for biofuel production and other non-feed uses has slowed to a 1 percent increase from 2011 (compared with an 8.2 percent increase from 2008 to 2009).

Total global fish production, including both wild capture fish and aquaculture, reached an all-time high of 154 million tons in 2011. Wild capture was 90.4 million tons that year, up 2 percent from 2010. This followed a 1.6-percent decline from 2009 to 2010. The 2011 global capture figure nearly matched the 2007 total of 90.3 million tons, which broke a four-year pattern of declining global wild capture. Since the late 1980s, however, wild capture production has essentially stagnated.

Women farmers produce more than half of all food worldwide and currently account for 43 percent of the global agricultural labor force. Indeed, the global food and agriculture system depends more on the contributions of women farmers today than ever before. Women produce as much as 50 percent of the agricultural output in South Asia and 80 percent in sub-Saharan Africa.

Since 2000, an estimated 70.2 million hectares (ha) of agricultural land have been sold or leased to private and public investors. This is a land mass roughly the size of the Democratic Republic of Congo and is 1.4 percent of the world’s agricultural land.

Farm animal populations continue to increase worldwide. The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research estimates that by 2050 the global poultry population will grow to nearly 35 billion, the goat and sheep population to 2.7 billion, and the cattle population to 2.6 billion animals.

Maize, rice, and wheat are the three major grain crops in the world. Together they account for almost two thirds of humanity’s staple food intake. In addition, they are critical for animal feed and industrial uses. In 2010, production of both maize and rice set record levels, but a significant drop in wheat output left overall grain totals slightly below 2008 levels. Preliminary data for 2011 indicate that production has increased, however, and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recently forecast that cereal output in 2011–12 will be 3 percent higher than in 2010–11.

Global meat production increased by 2.6 percent in 2010 to 290.6 million tons, an increase from the 0.8 percent growth rate of 2009. Even with this minimal increase, however, worldwide meat production has tripled since the 1970s. The increase continued the steady growth of the past decade. Since 2000, global meat production has risen by 20 percent.

In 2009, organic farming was practiced on 37.2 million hectares worldwide, a 5.7 percent increase from 2008 and a 150 percent increase since 2000. This includes land that is transitioning to organic production. The organic area amounted to 0.85 percent of global agricultural land in 2009. (By comparison, producers seeded 2 percent of agricultural land worldwide with genetically modified crops.)

Global fisheries production from fish caught in the wild and from aquaculture (fish farming) reached 145.1 million tons in 2009 (the most recent year with data), an all-time high. This represents a 1.9-percent increase from 2008, slightly higher than the previous year’s 1.8-percent growth rate. Forecasts for 2010 suggested a growth of 1.3 percent to 147 million tons.